The present disclosure relates to a solid-state imaging element such as, for example, a charge coupled device (CCD) or a complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) image sensor, a method for manufacturing a solid-state imaging element, and an electronic device.
For a solid-state imaging element such as a CCD or CMOS image sensor, there are techniques which, without using a dedicated automatic focus detection (AF) sensor, realize AF (a so-called image surface phase difference AF) using a phase difference detecting method (for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication Nos. 2000-156823, 2009-244862, and 2003-007994).
In the solid-state imaging element according to Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication Nos. 2000-156823, 2009-244862, and 2003-007994 described above, pixels for detecting a phase difference and pixels for generating a normal image are mixed and arranged and an on-chip lens (a microlens) and a light shielding layer which has a predetermined opening are provided in each of the pixels. In a pixel for detecting a phase difference, the optical axis of the microlens is designed so as to pass through the center axis of the pixel. In addition, the opening of the light shielding layer is formed so as to cover half of one side (the left half or the right half) of a light receiving surface of a photoelectric conversion element. It is possible to detect a phase difference using signals which are obtained from pixels with such a structure.